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Barack Obama portrayed the economic crisis in some of his gravest language yet, exhorting Congress to act or watch the country slip into years of recession and wrenching decline.

Obama touched on his ambitious plans to jump-start job growth: doubling the use of alternative energy in three years, computerizing all medical records in five years and making three-quarters of federal buildings energy-efficient.

But In his first major speech since winning the presidency, Obama’s goal was less to lay out a detailed program than to depict the consequences of not acting on it, what he described as a generation lost to economic backsliding.

“For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs,” Obama said, surrounded by the flags and formality of a presidential event at George Mason University in Virginia. “More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.”

His audience was two-fold. The speech, carried live on network television, was meant to reach average Americans in a way that the daily press conference or weekly radio address would not, to confront skepticism about another budget-busting stimulus package atop the politically unpopular Wall Street bailout.

It was also aimed at a smaller constituency – his former colleagues on Capitol Hill.

“I’m asking Congress to work with me and my team day and night, on weekends if necessary, to get the plan passed in the next few weeks,” Obama implored.

Republican leaders said they agree with the need for an economic shot-in-the arm but want to make sure Obama doesn’t use it as an excuse to launch a dramatic growth in government spending that continues on long after the crisis has passed.

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“Let’s don’t use the obvious need to pass a stimulus package to make the problem worse,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said after the speech. “We don’t want to make big mistakes that exacerbate the problem we already have, which is a dramatic eye-popping deficit.”

Obama’s team is putting together a economic stimulus bill estimated at $775 billion that would include about $330 billion in tax cuts, roughly $100 billion in health-care improvements like the medical records initiative and cash for state and local infrastructure projects to create jobs. Republicans worry that federal deficits already predicted to top $1 trillion for years to come would explode under Obama’s plan.

More broadly, Obama also addressed those who may have opposed him in the campaign, asking “all Americans…to put good ideas ahead of the old ideological battles; a sense of common purpose above the same narrow partisanship; and insist that the first question each of us asks isn’t ‘What’s good for me?” but “What’s good for the country my children will inherit?’”

He followed that echo of John F. Kennedy’s “ask not” speech, with a reference to Franklin Roosevelt’s “fear itself” line. He referred to himself at one point as “President of the United States.” And he turned, as Obama did often during the campaign, to his oratorical skills to make his case.

Though much of his address was intended to raise the stakes high enough so as to win congressional and public acceptance for a bill that could nearly double the already-massive federal deficit, Obama also sought to offer Americans what they seek from their leaders in difficult times: optimism.

“More than any program or policy, it is this spirit that will enable us to confront this challenge with the same spirit that has led previous generations to face down war, depression, and fear itself,” Obama said, praising the country’s “common purpose” and rhetorically linking this challenge to that which faced FDR in the Great Depression.

Obama, wearing a striped tie and serious look, was greeted by an audience that stood upon his appearance on stage.

The audience was comprised of students, faculty and guests of the university but also, at the invitation of the transition, a group of mostly Democratic governors and mayors, from around the country – another group he has to sell on his plan.

MORE OF THE SKY IS FALLING B.S. SO HE CAN SPEND LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. WE NEED THE MARKET AND THE ECONOMY TO HAVE A BREATHER AND STOP STUFFING IT WITH $ THAT DOES NOT WORK. JUST EXTEND UE BENNIES AND STAY OUT OF THE WAY. GOD I HOPE THE GOP AND THE BLUE DOG DEMS BLOCK 1/2 THIS CRAP.

It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now. We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied.

Ok. We want to be open and honest but do not want to give you the time to analyze what we are proposing to spend. Right...

“For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs,” Obama said, speaking at Fairfax, Va.’s George Mason University and surrounded by the flags and formality of a presidential event. “More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.”

Well, I'm waiting for a line about the only thing we need to fear is fear.............. Well, if history is any guide, the real crash started about six months after the stock market tanked....which means what?....March.

I'm thankful we have a real "man" at the helm instead of some feckless halfwit. Yes my conservative brothers and sisters...be scared...be very very scared!!

Franklin Delano Roosevelt with members of his cabinet. As President- At least some Republicans are starting to muster an anti-stimulus drive, claiming that President-elect Obama's package will not help the economy. Their drive is centered on what they claim is a careful rereading of the history of the New Deal. According to their account, President Roosevelt's policies actually lengthened the Great Depression. . .

In reality, any careful reading showed that the New Deal policies substantially ameliorated the effects of the Great Depression for tens of millions of people. The major economic failing of the New Deal was that President Roosevelt was not prepared to push the policies as far as necessary to fully lift the economy out of the Great Depression.

Roosevelt was too worried about the whining of the anti-stimulus crowd that he confronted. He remained concerned about balancing the budget when the proper goal of fiscal policy should have been large deficits to stimulate the economy.

It took the enormous public spending associated with World War II to fully lift the economy out of the depression. The lesson that economists take away from this experience is that we should be prepared to run very large deficits in order to give the economy a sufficient boost to generate self-sustaining growth.

However, from the standpoint of Republicans, the more ominous lesson of the New Deal policies is that it left the Democrats firmly in power for more than 20 years. The Republicans did not regain the White House until 1952, 20 years after President Roosevelt was first elected

MORE OF THE SKY IS FALLING B.S. SO HE CAN SPEND LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. WE NEED THE MARKET AND THE ECONOMY TO HAVE A BREATHER AND STOP STUFFING IT WITH $ THAT DOES NOT WORK. JUST EXTEND UE BENNIES AND STAY OUT OF THE WAY. GOD I HOPE THE GOP AND THE BLUE DOG DEMS BLOCK 1/2 THIS CRAP.

MORE OF THE SKY IS FALLING B.S. SO HE CAN SPEND LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. WE NEED THE MARKET AND THE ECONOMY TO HAVE A BREATHER AND STOP STUFFING IT WITH $ THAT DOES NOT WORK. JUST EXTEND UE BENNIES AND STAY OUT OF THE WAY. GOD I HOPE THE GOP AND THE BLUE DOG DEMS BLOCK 1/2 THIS CRAP.

An economy contracting at a near-great depression level of 2.2% a year, a 1.2 trillion dollar 2008 budget deficit, and 13 straight months of job losses. The final verdict is in on conservative economics and Reaganism, it is an abject failure and a blight on the world. We tried the conservative conman utopia of low taxes, a tiny and weak federal gov., no business regulations, and weak unions. This so-called golden age was called the 19th century and it was wracked by robber barons, corporate corruption, and massive depression level financial panics. The idea that you can effectively govern a megatrillion dollar economy with megabillion dollar corporations with a nonexistant federal government is something so extreme and stupid that only a redstate Republican would support the concept. Thank god for the FDIC and other Rooseveltian reforms that are the only things keeping our economy safe from a total meltdown of historical and grave proportions. And thank god that the Democratic party killed idiot Bushes idea of privatizing social security. Imagine the even more disastrous consequences of handing over tens of trillions of dollars of tax payer money to the Lehman, Bear Stearns, and AIGs of the world to speculate in the financial markets on the eve of the greatest financial meltdown in 80 years.

MORE OF THE SKY IS FALLING B.S. SO HE CAN SPEND LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. WE NEED THE MARKET AND THE ECONOMY TO HAVE A BREATHER AND STOP STUFFING IT WITH $ THAT DOES NOT WORK. JUST EXTEND UE BENNIES AND STAY OUT OF THE WAY. GOD I HOPE THE GOP AND THE BLUE DOG DEMS BLOCK 1/2 THIS CRAP.

Yes indeed Mr. Democrat....the people and policies you have supported means that you and your ilk will spend years in the political wilderness....spouting off like some drain pipe leeching from a chemical plant.

Obama will make mistakes, perhaps many, but the snakeoil salesmen you have supported lo these many years robs you of any credibility in this discussion....but....rant away til your hoarse....matters not and won't change a damn thing

This is a time when events will shake out the TRUE conservatives from the far right wing whack jobs that love their party more than their country...like Schmitty.

True conservatives will support the incoming president 100% because if he succeeds, we make it. If he fails, we may be on a steady downward spiral. A true conservative puts his country and his fellow Americans above party politics.A right wing nut job couldn't care less about his country....he/she is too busy trying to convince everyone that they were right all along, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. They vote their pocketbooks...nothing more. They would vote for Satan if he offered them another tax cut. Those are the true RINOs.

I will have my own beefs with Obama and I will put them out there respectfully. But, then again, I LOVE my country more than my party, more than my ideology and more than my pocketbook so I am hopeful that this period will bring about the healing we need, the economic recovery we seek and all TRUE Americans will give the Dittoheads the HEAVE HO forever.

An economy contracting at a near-great depression level of 2.2% a year, a 1.2 trillion dollar 2008 budget deficit, and 13 straight months of job losses. The final verdict is in on conservative economics and Reaganism, it is an abject failure and a blight on the world. We tried the conservative conman utopia of low taxes, a tiny and weak federal gov., no business regulations, and weak unions. This so-called golden age was called the 19th century and it was wracked by robber barons, corporate corruption, and massive depression level financial panics. The idea that you can effectively govern a megatrillion dollar economy with megabillion dollar corporations with a nonexistant federal government is something so extreme and stupid that only a redstate Republican would support the concept. Thank god for the FDIC and other Rooseveltian reforms that are the only things keeping our economy safe from a total meltdown of historical and grave proportions. And that god that the Democratic party killed idiot Bushes idea of privatizing social security. Imagine the even more disastrous consequences of handing over tens of trillions of dollars of tax payer money to the Lehman, Bear Stearns, and AIGs of the world to speculate in the financial markets on the eve of the greatest financial meltdown in 80 years.

Now if you and I could only agree on the Middle East...........

However, Bravo to you on your rather concise paragraph detailing the woeful ineptness of the current crop of Republicans and their policies